# Dunhills too expensive?



## fitzsmoke (Mar 9, 2006)

I have always thought Dunhill pipes were too expensive. However, except for their limited and special lines they look like a bargain compared to some of the designer types I've seen looking online. When I see some of the pipes going for upwards of $800 I have a tough time figuring out how they set their prices. Maybe you have to see them in person. Or the carver has developed a reputation that drives the prices so high. Makes the American carvers look like a bargain IMO.

:sb


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## fitzsmoke (Mar 9, 2006)

Speaking of Dunhills, I just finished bidding on an Ebay auction for a Dunhill Lovat #3...I had been outbid for awhile and when I returned to check there were 2 min. left. Put in a last ditch bid, had the high bid at $76.76 with 16 seconds to go. Hit the refresh and it went for $108.xx! Wow.


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## Millow (Dec 30, 2005)

Yeah, I don't know what it is with pipes. Branding, I guess. While I've never smoked an $800 pipe, how much better can it be then something you picked up on ebay for $40? I know your paying for the time it took to make it, the craftmanship, but honestly, to me a pipe is just a pipe. A piece of wood with a hole in it, hollowed out shank, with a stem jammed in there. Not like this will stop me from spending $200+ in the future on a pipe (when I have a decent income) I can be a real collector whore. 

Thats it for my rant


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## fitzsmoke (Mar 9, 2006)

Know what you mean about collecting...I need to catalog mine and buy some more pipe stands...:u


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## Nooner (Feb 22, 2005)

I was speaking with a gentleman a little while ago about the Dunhill phenomenon... he shared an interesting story about a story of a number of execs at dunhill discussing their desire to exit the pipe market and the consensus that developed.

They agreed after some discussion, and upon the suggestion of one particular gentleman, to double the prices for their pipes. This they figured would surely snuff out the demand for their pipes... well, sure enough, Dunhill is still puttering along, selling their pipes and are charging a very stiff premium for their product... just goes to show ya about the best laid plans of mice and men...

Now, find one and smoke one to determine whether or not they are worth their asking price, I tend to think not, but gosh they are pretty nice!!!


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## LSU Tiger (Jun 9, 2006)

I have a couple of Dunhills, and I must say they smoke better than most of my other pipes. The Petersons are almost their equal, and the Ser Jacopo's about the same as the Peterson, just prettier. I've heard that Ashton is the equal of Dunhill, and I'd like to find out for myself. Remember the old saying: "You get what you pay for..." :2


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## texaspipes (Jul 7, 2006)

Dunhill Pipes have established themselves as the standard by which all other pipes are measured. They invented many aspects of the modern pipe and have consistently fought off competition and ruthlessly dealt with their opponents. The main reason that Dunhill has been able to maintain this position is that they have consistently delivered a superior product and also received considerably assistance from their tobacco division (cigarettes)during lean times. Assistance which their competitors such as Charatan were unable to call upon.
When you buy a Dunhill Pipe it will most likely smoke well. No manufacturer can guarantee a good smoke but when you buy a high grade pipe it is unlikely that it won't be a good smoke with a least one type of tobacco. A pipe needs to find it's tobacco. Some high grades will taste truly terrible with the wrong choice of tobacco. The reason for this is that different tobaccos burn at different temperatures and things taste differently at different temperature. Cold beer tastes great, warm beer doesn't. Same with cold tea and hot tea. So if your pipe doesn't taste so good change the tobacco. Not just the type but the brand. I have pipes which are fantastic with Early Morning but are awful with 965. Both are latakia/oriental English blends.
A very valid reason why Dunhill pipes are widely collected is that they hold their value unflinchingly in the estate market, and each pipe can be dated to the exact year. Dunhill Patents from the 1950s are particulary excellent smokers and command equally high prices too.
If you are really looking for a genuine bargain pipe and have other things you need to spend money on, it would be best in my opinion to buy a second quality pipe from one of the old manufacturers. Such as a Sasieni Two Dot/Mayfair/Royal Stuart/Coventry/Berkley or Dunhill Seconds/Parker/Hardcastle. These pipes will usually have fills and/or sandspots but will use the same or similar top quality briar that is used in the top ranges. I have a Sasieni Coventry that I bought for $70.00 estate that is one of my very best smoking pipes.
To wrap this up I would say I could buy any consumable object a car, a watch, shoes, clothes etc. but which ones do I want to be seen in. A $10.00 digital watch will keep more accurate time than a Rolex, but which one would you rather have. A timeless piece of art or a basket pipe.


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

texaspipes said:


> To wrap this up I would say I could buy any consumable object a car, a watch, shoes, clothes etc. but which ones do I want to be seen in. A $10.00 digital watch will keep more accurate time than a Rolex, but which one would you rather have. A timeless piece of art or a basket pipe.


well, that's just another reason why "mankind" is f*cking up in the world. to quote the great 7-Up comercial, "Image is Everything". <-- which i find so true nowadays, and so sickening at the same time.

i drive a stripped down ford ranger (with manual windows - how many of you have those on your car or knew if they still made them like that), i have a couple of fossil watches that work great (have for years - and look very similar to a rolex), i buy my nike sneakers on closeout from eastbay when they're a year out of "style" for less than 1/2 price, i buy clothes at Old Navy (not Ambercrombie or any other super ultra expensive store that charges $60 for a fuggin t-shirt or jeans)....

i could go on and on... bottom line is: *if people are worried so much about "image" that they have to smoke something super expensive, when a pipe (or cigar) that is 1/10th the price will do a better job and look just as good/smoke just as good/taste just as good, and they would enjoy just the same (or more - due to the better smoking properties/better tasting cigar than a nasty ass OpusX), then they've got problems.*


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

IHT said:


> i buy clothes at Old Navy (not Ambercrombie or any other super ultra expensive store that charges $60 for a fuggin t-shirt or jeans)....


60 bucks for jeans is great! I've seen designer jeans fetch prices around 350+!

I love Dunhill's wolly mammoth pipe. But that's about the only one i'd shell the cash out for.


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## mr.c (Apr 8, 2004)

IHT said:


> well, that's just another reason why "mankind" is f*cking up in the world. to quote the great 7-Up comercial, "Image is Everything". <-- which i find so true nowadays, and so sickening at the same time.
> 
> i drive a stripped down ford ranger (with manual windows - how many of you have those on your car or knew if they still made them like that), i have a couple of fossil watches that work great (have for years - and look very similar to a rolex), i buy my nike sneakers on closeout from eastbay when they're a year out of "style" for less than 1/2 price, i buy clothes at Old Navy (not Ambercrombie or any other super ultra expensive store that charges $60 for a fuggin t-shirt or jeans)....
> 
> i could go on and on... bottom line is: *if people are worried so much about "image" that they have to smoke something super expensive, when a pipe (or cigar) that is 1/10th the price will do a better job and look just as good/smoke just as good/taste just as good, and they would enjoy just the same (or more - due to the better smoking properties/better tasting cigar than a nasty ass OpusX), then they've got problems.*


Greg, you should change your cut to "not a slave to fashion" LOL


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

lol... you guys get what i'm saying, though.
i don't have a problem if someone owns that stuff and smokes 'em and enjoys 'em... but if the ONLY reason they're doing it is due to "image", well :BS on 'em.
i smoke a couple of "expensive" pipes (ser jacapo, karl erik, mastro de paja) in a "relative" sense.. to me, anything around $100-150+ is expensive... i'd have buyers remorse... when i can get a decent stanwell/savinelli/nording type of pipe that smokes excellent and still looks very good for a lot cheaper....

speaking of something nice looking, Joe, you gotta let me order one of those sweet pipe racks you make. if you're taking orders, PM me.  
(yes, i finally saw that topic about a rack you made someone.)


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

carbonbased_al said:


> 60 bucks for jeans is great! I've seen designer jeans fetch prices around 350+!


that's the problem... JEANS should not be "DESIGNER"... they should be JEANS! hell, i bet those "designer" jeans come faded with holes in 'em, too.  
:r


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## dayplanner (Dec 11, 1997)

IHT said:


> that's the problem... JEANS should not be "DESIGNER"... they should be JEANS! hell, i bet those "designer" jeans come faded with holes in 'em, too.
> :r


Yep, pre ripped, and faded. They do the work for you, hence the higher price


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## joed (Nov 12, 2005)

yes


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## texaspipes (Jul 7, 2006)

Well the good news is if you buy an estate Dunhill, provided you look after it, you can smoke it for years and then sell it for the same price you paid.


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

texaspipes said:


> Well the good news is if you buy an estate Dunhill, provided you look after it, you can smoke it for years and then sell it for the same price you paid.


true, no denying that.


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## drrgill (Jan 1, 2000)

IHT said:


> well, that's just another reason why "mankind" is f*cking up in the world. to quote the great 7-Up comercial, "Image is Everything". <-- which i find so true nowadays, and so sickening at the same time.
> 
> i drive a stripped down ford ranger (with manual windows - how many of you have those on your car or knew if they still made them like that), i have a couple of fossil watches that work great (have for years - and look very similar to a rolex), i buy my nike sneakers on closeout from eastbay when they're a year out of "style" for less than 1/2 price, i buy clothes at Old Navy (not Ambercrombie or any other super ultra expensive store that charges $60 for a fuggin t-shirt or jeans)....
> 
> i could go on and on... bottom line is: *if people are worried so much about "image" that they have to smoke something super expensive, when a pipe (or cigar) that is 1/10th the price will do a better job and look just as good/smoke just as good/taste just as good, and they would enjoy just the same (or more - due to the better smoking properties/better tasting cigar than a nasty ass OpusX), then they've got problems.*


*DECAFF.....DECAFF.....DECAFF*

MY 1996 Chevy Z71 with 270,000 mile says I know where your comming from!

Drrgill


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

drrgill said:


> *DECAFF.....DECAFF.....DECAFF*
> 
> MY 1996 Chevy Z71 with 270,000 mile says I know where your comming from!
> 
> Drrgill


but now that you've met me and heard me talk in person, you know that i'm not upset or have harsh tones when i say what i type on here, right?  
ps - what's the point in drinking decaf? it's like drinking non-alcoholic beer...


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## Irish Bob (Jun 21, 2006)

texaspipes said:


> Well the good news is if you buy an estate Dunhill, provided you look after it, you can smoke it for years and then sell it for the same price you paid.


Sounds like a plan! Got to admit I've admired some of the Dunhill pipes in the local tobacconist...nice, but a little too stiff a price for a relative newbie like me.


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## drrgill (Jan 1, 2000)

IHT said:


> but now that you've met me and heard me talk in person, you know that i'm not upset or have harsh tones when i say what i type on here, right?
> ps - what's the point in drinking decaf? it's like drinking non-alcoholic beer...


Just Busting your chops....I have a folder of Quotes you can relate to this one.. *"People borrow money they don't have...to buy things they don't* *need...to impress people they don't like"*

PS- I don't drink decaff either....IHT Liking you more everyday!!


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## LSU Tiger (Jun 9, 2006)

All of this is relative. For example, I've liked muzzle loading rifles since seeing the "Daniel Boone" TV show as a kid. Later, I started building kits, then as I learned more, I started to do more work by hand, until now, I can build a totally hand made rifle, circa 1770. That said, I still buy barrels and locks, rather than forge every one. My point is, as your experience grows, your tastes refine, and a $300 pipe doesn't sound so bad. No more so than making your own rifle barrel. :2


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## texaspipes (Jul 7, 2006)

Well said LSU Tiger. Your appreciation and tastes do refine and one of the most difficult things for most people to come to terms with is the fact they remember their Grandfather or Uncle smoking some scabby excuse for a pipe so they automatically believe pipesmoking is an inexpensive affair and end up with "Why should I spend $200+ on a pipe?" syndrome.


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## croatan (Mar 23, 2005)

My Dunhills smoke great. And my favorite one (and the one for which I paid the most) was bought in the Dunhill store in London on a great day that I'll never forget. I paid for the pipe and the experience and couldn't be happier.

That being said, I have only a couple of Dunhills and over a dozen Petersons and pipes of that ilk--and would I trade ten Petersons for another Dunhill? Not a chance. But I sure do like the one I'm smoking right now.


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## IHT (Dec 27, 2003)

texaspipes said:


> Your appreciation and tastes do refine and one of the most difficult things for most people to come to terms with is the fact they remember their Grandfather or Uncle smoking some scabby excuse for a pipe so they automatically believe pipesmoking is an inexpensive affair and end up with "Why should I spend $200+ on a pipe?" syndrome.


that's true, too bad none of us fit that mold.
most of us fit into the mold of, "i have $100 or less pipes that smoke like a dream, why waste my money on a $200+ pipe trying to impress someone" syndrome.  
like i said, i have a few "expensive" pipes and would like to add some more, but are dunhills too expensive to me? yes - it's a name. i'm sure there are many other pipes out there that you can get that will smoke as good, if not better, for a lot less.
that's just me, the guy who still buys quality (name brand) stuff, just doesn't like to overspend.... i don't shop at Aldi, although i do have "cleveland" knock off golf clubs (a gift from a retired Col)....
if i had 25,000, and you gave me the option of buying a big ol' harley, or 2 Ducati's and all kinds of cool upgrades, i'd have 2 ducatis (or 4 other bikes - a honda, yamaha, kawasaki, and suzuki).

bah, buy what you want to buy. if you're goal is to impress someone, good for you.


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## texaspipes (Jul 7, 2006)

Smoking is a Fine Art, by A. A. Milne Author of Winnie the Pooh

...At eighteen I went to Cambridge, and bought two pipes in a case. In those days Greek was compulsory, but not more so than two pipes in a case. One of the pipes had an amber stem and the other a vulcanite stem, and both of them had silver belts. That also was compulsory. Having bought them, one was free to smoke cigarettes. However, at the end of my first year I got to work seriously on a shilling briar, and have smoked that, or something like it, ever since.
...There has grown up a new school of pipe smokers...its pupils would no longer think of smoking a pipe without the white spot as of smoking brown paper. So far are they from smoking brown paper that each one of them has his tobacco specially blended.
...However, it is the pipe rather than the tobacco which marks him as belonging to this particular school. He pins his faith, not so much to its labor saving devices as to the white spot outside, the white spot of an otherwise aimless life. This tells the world that it is one of the pipes. Never was an announcement more superfluous.
...Whereas men of an older school, like myself, smoke for the pleasure of smoking, men of this school smoke for the pleasure of pipe-owning--of selecting which of their many white-spotted pipes they will fill with their specially blended tobacco, of filling the one so chosen, of lighting it, of taking it from the mouth to gaze lovingly at the white spot and thus letting it go out, of lighting it again and letting it go out again, of polishing it up with their own special polisher and putting it to bed, and then the pleasure of beginning all over again with another white-spotted one. They are not so much pipe smokers as pipe keepers; and to have spoken as I did just now of their owning pipes was wrong, for it is they who are in bondage to the white spot.
...You may be excused for feeling after the first pipe that the joys of smoking have been rated too high, and for trying to extract your pleasure from the polish on the pipe's surface, the pride of possessing a special mixture of your own, and such-like matters, rather than from the actual inspiration and expiration of smoke. In the same way a man not fond of reading may find delight in a library of well-bound books. They are pleasant to handle, pleasant to talk about, pleasant to show to friends.But it is the man without the library of well-bound books who generally does most of the reading.
So I feel that it is we of the older school that do most of the smoking. We smoke unconsciously while we are doing other things; they try, but not very successfully, to do other things while they are consciously smoking. No doubt they despise us, and tell themselves that we are not real smokers, but I fancy they feel a little uneasy sometimes. For my young friends are always trying to persuade me to join their school, to become one of the white-spotted ones. 
-from Not That It Matters, 1920

Isn't it wonderful how times never change!


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## joed (Nov 12, 2005)

IHT said:


> What's the point in drinking decaf? it's like drinking non-alcoholic beer...


..

That's the only beer I drink - and with the amount of coffee that I consume - if some of it wasn't decaf - I'd never sleep and people wouldn't like me much because I'd in a very crabby mood. :r :r


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## Hellraiser (Mar 17, 2006)

I've bought 3 Dunhills over the past 2 months, a mint estate '69 Root (apple) from ebay, and 2 new ones in the Shell finish (a straight pot with silver band and a bent bulldog), none are what I consider outrageously expensive. I love these pipes, specially the old root. It's not just the smoking of these pipes I love, I also like just looking at them and handling them, gives me joy to behold these Dunhills for some reason, so they are worth the cost to me as I get alot of enjoyment from them.

Fashion statement? For some sure, not for me, I live in a no smoking city, no smoking in bars, tobacco stores, or anywhere really. So the only living thing that sees me smoking my pipe on a regular basis is my dog and she really does not seem impressed by the white spot, being the uncivilized beast she is. For some people I can see it though, the need to show status - same with expensive houses and cars, the "if ya got it, flaunt it" mentality. I live in a modest home that I own and drive a Jeep Wrangler so the the only things I really spoil myself with are the pipes.

I love the classic shapes and I feel no one does the classics better than Dunhill. But I would like to take a short break from my Dunhill acquisition disorder and possibly change it to a Castello acquistion disorder for a few pipes, ya know just to break the cycle.


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## fitzsmoke (Mar 9, 2006)

Great quote Tex! I will keep plugging away on Ebay and someday I will own a Dunhill. As I don't smoke much in public, and most of my co-workers and friends wouldn't have a clue what brand of pipe I smoke, it would be for my satisfaction alone. I just don't want to clean out my bank account to aquire a Dunhill and I have plenty of time. Meanwhile I enjoy my wildly diverse and numerous pipes, most of which were bought for 10-20% the price of a Dunhill. I really enjoy the Pete's, all of them purchased new from local B & M's.


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## Hellraiser (Mar 17, 2006)

fitzsmoke said:


> Great quote Tex! I will keep plugging away on Ebay and someday I will own a Dunhill. As I don't smoke much in public, and most of my co-workers and friends wouldn't have a clue what brand of pipe I smoke, it would be for my satisfaction alone. I just don't want to clean out my bank account to aquire a Dunhill and I have plenty of time. Meanwhile I enjoy my wildly diverse and numerous pipes, most of which were bought for 10-20% the price of a Dunhill. I really enjoy the Pete's, all of them purchased new from local B & M's.


I've paid more for a Peterson than some of my Dunhills, of course the Peterson was new and the Dunhill was an estate. For example I got a 1981 Dunhill shell bent bulldog (lightly smoked, great condition, looks new) on Ebay for $120 that is an amazing smoker, that is less than I paid for a Peterson Rosslare 999. I would take another estate Dunhill over that particular Peterson anyday, specially for the same price or less and not having to break in another dip-stained Peterson.


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## fitzsmoke (Mar 9, 2006)

I have never seen a good quality Dunhill on Ebay for less than $150 or so. And yes, I will keep trying.....


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## LSU Tiger (Jun 9, 2006)

Fitz, you should try an Upshall. I have two that I'd put against any of my three Dunhills any day for smoking quality. I bought a very nice estate rusticated Dublin Upshall from "The Smoker Ltd." for $125. And, it's an ubelieveable smoke. http://www.thesmoker.com/index.html


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## fitzsmoke (Mar 9, 2006)

LSU Tiger said:


> Fitz, you should try an Upshall. I have two that I'd put against any of my three Dunhills any day for smoking quality. I bought a very nice estate rusticated Dublin Upshall from "The Smoker Ltd." for $125. And, it's an ubelieveable smoke. http://www.thesmoker.com/index.html


Thanks for the Upshall advice. I will check 'em out.


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